SW 297 - Writing The Earth

Institution:

DePaul University

Subject:

Description:

In this course, students will learn creative writing while exploring geologic history. Geology is the window into history of the earth and all the organisms that have lived and died here. Every work in quarries, road cuts, or pebbles on a beach carries part of the earth's story. Students will learn to read rocks and open the book of the earth history. There, one can find the drama of evolution and mass extinction, the violent uplift of mountains and their slow erosion into plains, the crashing of seas flooding the continents and the drying of sediments abandonded as the seas recede, the first steps of an ape that would be human and the changes that made all of us from that beginning. Earth history is filled with drama, with actual adventure, and light romance, and grim catastrophe. Factual writing alone cannot communicate the emotions we feel as we experience earth's own poetry. For that, we need the depth and energy of creative expression. In this course, students will learn the basics of reading rocks and explore earth history for themselves. They will also learn to communicate their experience to others through creative writing in fiction, essays, or poetry. Regular class meetings will be held with full day field trips. Class time will be divided between the explorations of geologic concepts and creative writing. Geologic concepts will be introduced through readings, discussion, and hands-on experience with real rocks. Creative writing will be introduced through readings, discussions, and writing exercises. Most of the writing exercises for each class will be based on student's hands-on experience in that class.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.depaul.edu

Phone Number:

(312) 362-8000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Quarter

The Course Profile information is provided and updated by third parties including the respective institutions. While the institutions are able to update their information at any time, the information is not independently validated, and no party associated with this website can accept responsibility for its accuracy.